Sorry Jason Statham, but Gen Alpha (born 2010-2024/25) and Gen Z (born 1997-2012) are not looking for a Transporter.
The Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA has released the findings from its “Evolving Masculinity” study. The study surveyed 1,500 tweens, teens and young adults, ages 10-24, finding that these groups want to see boys and men on TV and in movies “moving away from isolation and other masculine stereotypes” and “towards vulnerability and connection.”
If they get their way, (the new) Road House 2 is gonna suck.
Specifically, these new gens want to see dads “showing love to kids” on screen and “enjoying parenting.” Not surprisingly, it was the youngest participants who crave that stuff the most in their TV and film dads, just like their real ones. And fellas, if that feels like a lot, seek support (and maybe don’t have kids) — nearly half the respondents, 46 percent, want to watch content that depicts “men asking for help, including with their mental health.”
The CSS study was led by Yalda T. Uhls, founder and CEO of the center. Uhls and her team concluded that young people “are asking for a reimagining of how men show up in the lives of others,” as the study reads. “Whether it is a father, mentor, coach, or teacher, the message from the audience was the same.” Uhls and her team pointed to two TV examples — Heated Rivalry and The Pitt — as satisfying those depictions.
If I may add another example, one for the kids, Bluey dad Bandit is the model modern dad. Uhls agrees — the big blue guy is the gold standard.
“Exactly,” she said on a phone call with The Hollywood Reporter.
On the opposite end of the spectrum — Vin Diesel. Dominic Toretto may not have friends, he has family, but he would not be the father figure Gens Z and Alpha would gravitate toward.
“There’s not enough nuance or authenticity in the way that these men show the full range of their emotions,” Uhls told THR. “Young people are going to make fun of it or reject it.”
For what it’s worth, us old people make fun of that guy too.
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